News in Brief: A State Capitals Roundup

Pa. State Board Passes New Academic Standards

Pennsylvania's state board of education has approved new academic
standards in reading, writing, and mathematics for students in grades
3, 5, 8, and 11.

The package will replace the state's current set of "student
learning outcomes," which some have criticized as too vague since their
adoption in 1993.

"With this vote, we set the bar of achievement high for our schools
and for our students," state Secretary of Education Eugene W. Hickok
said in a written statement.

Republican Gov. Tom Ridge created an advisory commission on academic
standards two years ago to set the new learning objectives. The plan
must now go through a legal-review process, which is expected to be
completed by fall.

The new standards, and the assessments that will be aligned with
them, will take effect one year after that process is completed, or by
the fall of 1999. Meanwhile, the state education department is drafting
standards in science, technology, history, and other areas.

Funding for Md. Desegregation Deal Approved

The Maryland legislature has approved a three-year, $145 million
spending package to help Prince George's County build the schools
needed to settle a 26-year-old desegregation suit and return to a
system of neighborhood schools.

Democratic Gov. Parris N. Glendening last week signaled his
intention to sign the capital budget that includes the new money, even
though county officials say it won't be enough to pay for the proposed
settlement of the lawsuit filed by the county chapter of the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

Officials in the suburban Washington county estimate that state aid
will pay for only 13 of the 16 schools the deal requires the
125,000-student district to build.

"We'll go with what [money] we have and get more in the future,"
said Leonard L. Lucchi, the state lobbyist for County Executive Wayne
K. Curry, a Democrat.

Prince George's County and NAACP officials present their settlement
proposal to a federal judge for approval next month.

Ga. Regents OK Teacher Training Guarantees

New teachers in Georgia who don't live up to the expectations of the
school systems that hire them will be retrained at no cost to the
districts. That is one of 10 new principles adopted April 7 by the
state board of regents in an effort to ensure that teachers graduating
from Georgia's university system are qualified for the classroom.

The guarantee will apply only to those teachers who were schooled in
the 15 accredited teacher education programs offered by the state's
public colleges and universities. And any retraining that is needed
will be available only in the first two years after a teacher
graduates. The guarantee also will only apply to teachers who are
working in the field for which they were trained.

Other principles include making sure that new teachers are trained
to teach children from diverse backgrounds, seeking to attract
high-achieving students to teacher education programs, and ensuring
that graduates from early-childhood programs are skilled in teaching
reading and mathematics.

In the next few months, the board will craft specific plans to
implement the principles.

Report Says N.Y. Lottery Does Little for Schools

A highly critical report released last week argues that, despite a
popular perception that New York's state lottery guarantees greater
spending on schools, the games do little to increase education funding
in the Empire State.

Although the lottery generates more than $1.6 billion a year, it
contributes only about 5.3 percent of total spending by local
districts, reported State Comptroller H. Carl McCall. His report shows
that lottery money replaces, rather than supplements, other revenue
used to aid schools. The formula that determines how much state funding
schools receive is set without regard to lottery revenues.

An examination of more than 30 years of state school aid and
lottery-revenue trends showed that increased ticket sales have not
generally coincided with a rise in the percentage of total school
funding paid for by the state. Instead, the comptroller said,
lottery-revenue growth has been used to close state budget gaps and has
even coincided with proposed cuts in school aid.

"By dedicating it to education, there is an implied promise that the
lottery will increase school aid," the report says. "This has never
happened in New York."

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